Great Gatsby to open Cannes Film Festival

Baz Luhrmann’s Great Gatsby has been announced as this year’s opening night gala in Cannes, but unless Warner Bros. delays the US premiere Gatsby’s spotlight won’t be a world premiere.

(LATimes) The Cannes opening slot has been an extremely fertile platform the last two years, propelling 2011 opener “Midnight In Paris” and 2012 debut “Moonrise Kingdom” to breakout success. But “Gatsby” could face a wrinkle: at the moment it appears to be dated for a May 15 French release but a May 10 Stateside release, which would mean much of the press about it in the U.S. will have already hit by the time the film rolls up on the Riviera. Poor reviews could especially put a damper on things.

Warner Bros. could move the release back a week to take advantage of the buckets of free publicity — most Cannes opening night films in recent years have come out in the U.S. after the festival premiere. The weekend of the 17th, however, is already occupied by another big studio spectacle, “Star Trek Into Darkness.”

“Gatsby” has already been moved once, out of the December 2012 period to the spring. The move helped the film avoid a crowded holiday calendar and also gave Luhrmann more time to finish its extensive special effects.